Russia Frees Greek Tanker Held in Baltic Sea Standoff

On May 19, a Greek-operated oil tanker was freed after being held by Russian authorities for about a day in the Baltic Sea. The ship, known as Green Admire and registered under the Liberian flag, had just departed from Sillamäe, Estonia with shale oil destined for Rotterdam when it was detained.

as per reports from Estonian broadcaster ERR and LSEG ship tracking data, the tanker is now back on course through the Gulf of Finland in international waters. It was stopped near Gogland island—a heavily fortified area controlled by Russia—after it inadvertently entered Russian territorial waters via a route that had previously been deemed acceptable for larger vessels.

The Green Admire, which launched in 2022 and is managed by Aegean Shipping Management based in Piraeus, received advice from a local pilot to avoid this particular route through Russian waters. Though, the captain chose to proceed anyway; maritime law allows captains to make final routing decisions. Estonia’s Transport Board confirmed that while this corridor cuts through Russian territory, it has been frequently used before without incident.

estonian officials noted that the vessel did not respond to multiple warnings issued by Russian forces while navigating an area marked as “dangerous for shipping.” Interestingly enough, despite this designation being new, Russia had not enforced such warnings previously.

This incident marks a notable shift; according to Estonia’s navy officials, it’s one of the first times recently that Russia has actively interfered with merchant shipping movements near Estonia. While no official reason was given for detaining the tanker,Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna suggested it coudl be retaliation against Estonia’s increased efforts to intercept tankers transporting Russian oil across Baltic routes—part of an initiative aimed at exposing what’s referred to as Russia’s “shadow fleet.”

This shadow fleet consists of older vessels acquired by opaque entities from countries that haven’t imposed sanctions on Russia. Many are flagged under nations like Gabon or Marshall Islands and are suspected of carrying sanctioned oil or even pilfered Ukrainian grain.

Tsahkna characterized Russia’s actions as erratic and mentioned he briefed NATO allies about this situation. He also indicated that Estonia’s navy has been scrutinizing tankers believed to be involved with transporting Russian oil.

The detention follows another recent event where a russian fighter jet breached NATO airspace after Estonia intercepted another suspected shadow fleet vessel named Argent en route to Primorsk port in Russia.

To prevent future incidents like these from occurring again,Estonia plans to reroute all ships traveling between Sillamäe and other ports exclusively through its own territorial waters. This new path might potentially be trickier due to surrounding shoals but avoids any crossing into contested maritime areas controlled by Russia.

As last year following Ukraine’s invasion by Russia,there have been recommendations urging ships heading toward Sillamäe not to enter Russian waters; though many operators still opted for what they perceived as safer routes due mainly as they were deeper and less navigationally challenging.

Interestingly enough, reports indicate that operations involving Green Admire receive financial backing from China’s Bank of Communications. Neither representatives from either side have publicly commented on why exactly the tanker was detained or subsequently released.

In response to these developments regarding shadow fleets operating within European waters amid ongoing geopolitical tensions over Ukraine conflict issues—the EU has ramped up sanctions targeting such vessels; earlier this year alone saw 70 more ships added onto their watchlist alongside over 50 already identified suspects.